


Ink and Petals

by LastStopTillLondon



Series: Prompts [3]
Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, F/F, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-04
Updated: 2015-02-04
Packaged: 2018-03-10 10:39:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3287246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LastStopTillLondon/pseuds/LastStopTillLondon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anon AU prompt: Laf is a tattoo artist, and Perry works at the flower shop next door</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ink and Petals

The tiniest spark of rebellion flickered around in their stomach as they opened the glass door despite the neon flashing “CLOSED” sign hanging barely a foot and a half away. They stepped into the building and a soft bell dinged at their entrance. They took a small once over of the place. The red couch was empty, the mat on the floor was a bit misplaced (which they quickly fixed with their foot), the counter was it’s usual morning mess of papers, pencils, and drawings. Next to one of the stacks of papers was a vase of flowers. It hadn’t been there when they closed last night. They just shrugged it off. The flowers looked nice anyway. Must have been one of the other workers. Or, whoever decided to show up early today. Besides, they really livened up the place.

They walked in farther and turned into the little break room the place had. Effortlessly, they shrugged the straps of their backpack down their ink covered arms. They threw it on one of the chairs and turned to the fridge for something to snack on but the two people sucking each other’s face stopped all thoughts of food.

“Well hello, you two,” they smiled sarcastically, putting their hands in their back pockets.

The two girls jumped back from each other.

“Oh my god, LaFontaine,” the black haired girl, whose arms and neck were also covered in ink, put a hand over her pounding heart. “It’s too early for that,”

They chuckled a little. “Hey L,”

“Hey LaFontaine,” the smaller girl breathed, quickly readjusting her shirt.

They chuckled again. Those two were always like this.

“So, what’s up?” LaFontaine asked, opening the fridge.

“Saying goodbye to Carm before I’m off to work,” Laura said, jumping up on one of the counters.

“Still trying to find a place for your flower shop?”

“Well, actually… I found a place,”

“Oh really? Where?” They took out an orange then shut the door.

“Umm…” Laura glanced to Carmilla for a second. “Next door,”

“Next door?” LaFontaine was a little surprised. “Next to a tattoo parlor?” Sure, they’ve heard of flower shops next to tattoo parlors before but they weren’t sure Laura…  _little_ Laura could handle it. She wasn’t exactly the most intimidating person.

“Well, yeah. If you put it that way,”

“There’ll be drunks around a lot, you know that right?”

“Yeah, Carm’s already given me the whole spiel,”

“You’re a bit slow, Einstein,” Carmilla smirked from behind an apple.

“Plus, Danny says she wants to work there. I’m sure she’ll keep out any hoodlums,”

Both LaFontaine and Carmilla rolled their eyes at ‘hoodlums’. “Well, I’m gonna set up. Be ready by 10 today.  _Please_ ,”

—

“How’s it goin’, L?” LaFontaine asked, bringing Laura her Tardis mug full of coffee.

She was slumped over a bunch of applications spread out haphazardly across the table. “Okay, I guess,” she shrugged, taking the coffee. “If this is the worst thing I have to worry about right now, I’m glad it’s this,”

“So you’re trying to find another person to help with your shop?” LaFontaine questioned, looking over the papers.

“Yeah. They’re all pretty okay. Except for this one. Danny says he’s trouble,” Laura sighed, shoving one of the papers away.

“I think you should hire her,” Carmilla pointed to one of the papers in the middle.

“Elise? Really?” Laura turned to her girlfriend.

“Well, yeah. I was there. I met her. She seemed nice,” Carmilla shrugged. “Good girl for a flower shop,”

“You just think she’s cute,” Laura didn’t break eye contact as she shoved the the paper away.

The three sat in silence for a little bit, Carmilla and Laura looking over all the applications again. LaFontaine just leaned back and munched on a cookie, idly sketching a drawing for a customer.

“Ooh, how about…” Carmilla started, remembering someone from their interviews. She quickly tried to find the girl’s form. “Her?”

“Lola?” Laura thought about it.

“Yeah. I mean, she was really nice, she could help keep the place clean, and she would be perfect for…” Carmilla met Laura’s eyes, raising her eyebrows for a second.

“Oooohh… Yeah,” Laura nodded, smiling. “She’d be perfect,”

LaFontaine was confused.

—

Opening up the door again, they barely even noticing the “CLOSED” sign this morning, LaFontaine stepped into the parlor. They wiped their muddy shoes on the mat and closed their umbrella before looking up. There was a girl with ginger curls that gracefully fell down her back in front of the counter.

“Oh, sorry. We’re not open,”

“Oh! I’m not here for…” the girl turned around, meeting LaFontaine’s eyes. “… that…”

Their heart skipped a beat. They’ve never seen a more beautiful person so up close before. LaFontaine was mesmerized. They were pretty sure time stopped at that moment.

“I-I have to go…” the girl said, brushing past them quickly with a deep blush painting her face.

LaFontaine stood in the entryway confused, looking around as if something would explain what just happened.

“Lola?” Laura called from the break room when she heard the ding from the door. She came out from the back, looking around. “Lola? Where’s Lola?”

“L-Lola? You mean… that… that girl…?” LaFontaine looked out the rain covered window, the image of her coming back into their mind.

“What did you do to her? Why did she leave?”

“I don’t know!” They turned to Laura, shrugging. “I just walked in and I thought she was a customer so I told her we weren’t open then she started to say something and just left,”

“Did LaF meet Lola?” Carmilla came jogging out from the back. “Well, what did you think?”

“She’s…” LaFontaine looked out the window again. “Something…”

—

“You met LaFontaine?” Laura burst through her flower shop door suddenly, a bit wet from the rain, startling both Lola and Danny.

“W-well I w-wouldn’t say “met”,” Lola was fixing a bouquet of carnations with hurried hands.

“Then what would you call it?”

“I-I saw her and-”

“Them,” Laura corrected.

“What?”

“It’s them,” She saw the blank stare on Lola’s face. “I’ll explain it later. Go on,”

“Well, I saw…  _them_ … and I… I couldn’t breathe or think or speak… So… so I ran out…”

Laura squealed, jumping up and down. “You two are so cute! You need to talk to them, like actually talk to them,”

“I-I don’t think I could…”

“If you don’t then you’re fired,”

Danny snorted from across the room.

Lola sighed, giving in. “Alright. I’ll talk to her-… them,”

—

Every morning that LaFontaine came in to the parlor, there would be a new vase of flowers on the counter. Sometimes they would get to see Lola. Only for a few seconds before she quickly shuffled out the door. Every night, LaFontaine would take the flowers home and put them in water. Their apartment was starting to look a lot like Laura’s shop.

After nearly two full weeks of playing hide-and-seek with this Lola girl, LaFontaine finally gathered up enough courage to walk into Laura’s store. They knew that Laura would be next door with Carmilla and they didn’t need her pushiness right now. Also, she was probably in the middle of getting fucked by Carmilla anyway and LaFontaine did  _not_ want to walk in on that. Again.

When they opened the door, a small bell dinged. It was like the one they had next door but a bit higher in pitch. They were surprised at how the store looked. There were flowers lining each wall and a few pots hanging from the ceiling with pink and purple buds spilling over the sides. There was a row or two off to the opposite side of the counter that held potted flowers and other greens along with their seeds. To be truthful, they had never actually walked into the store since Laura opened it. They couldn’t help but think that a certain bunch of ginger curls would fit nicely in a place like this.

“Oh, hey LaF,” Danny said from behind the counter, arranging a beautiful bouquet of lilies, roses, carnations, and something else that LaFontaine didn’t know the name of.

“Hey Danny,” they stepped in all the way, letting the door close behind them.

“What can I do ya for?”

“I was… well… looking for Lola?”

Danny smiled, chuckling in a very amused tone. “Lola, huh?”

“Y-yeah… I’ve been meaning to talk with her and…” LaFontaine sighed, rubbing the back of their head.

“Don’t worry. I’ll go get her and I’ll leave you alone,” she winked which didn’t help the pangs of anxiety shooting through LaFontaine, causing their hands to shake.

Danny swiftly locked the door so Laura wouldn’t come bursting in and went to the back. They could hear Danny talking but what ever she was saying was mumbled. LaFontaine turned to a bouquet of multicolored lilacs, touching their pedals softly. They bent down to smell them. The scent calmed them down enough that their hands stopped shaking.

“Um…”

LaFontaine stood up quickly, looking at the beautiful florist once again. Their mouth grew dry, opening and closing like a gasping fish.

“H-hi…” she said softly.

“Hi…” LaFontaine smiled a little and Lola could feel her heart skip a beat or two at the crooked smile.

The sudden pitter-patter on the window pulled their gaze from each other. Laura was rapidly tapping on the window outside. When they looked, she gave them a very wild grin and two thumbs up. LaFontaine rolled their eyes and Perry looked away, blushing.

Later that week, Laura forced them to come with her and Carmilla on a “double date”. Neither liked the idea at first, still a bit too shy to want to go, but neither could really say no to the little brunette. Despite not liking it at first, they had a better time than they thought.

LaFontaine drove Perry home but before they left, Perry had convinced them to go into inside her apartment to watch a movie instead of just leaving after their dinner they had finished with the other two,  _very_  annoying, girls that were watching them intensively the whole night.

After the movie was over, the silence that filtered between them was a comfortable one but it was also kind of awkward. They were laying under a blanket, next to each other. And even though neither would admit it, they kept looking at each other’s lips. LaFontaine swallowed and after a good 5 minutes of no talking, they mustered up enough courage to lean forward and press a gentle kiss against the florist’s lips.

—

The bell ding brought Lola out from the back of the store.

"Oh, LaFontaine," she smiled shyly and tucked a stray strand of curls behind her ear. "What are you doing here?"

"I umm… Wanted some flowers," they shuffled their feet, shoving their hands into their back pockets.

"O-of course!" She shuffled to the other side of the counter. "Did you have anything in mind?"

"Ah, not really…" They scratched the backside of their head. "I don’t know much about flowers but she does and I don’t want to choose the wrong ones,"

"Well, what do you want them for?"

"I’m… I’m giving them to someone… special," they looked down at their feet, embarrassed.

"Oh… Then what kind of feeling do you want them to help you with?"

"Feeling?"

"Well… Flowers can help express a feeling more when you give them to someone. Like congratulating something or at the end of a performance,"

"Umm…" LaFontaine kicked the ground, blushing now. "I guess love?"

"Oh…" Lola felt her heart drop but tried to keep energy in her voice. "Then I would give someone a bouquet of roses,"

"You sure that’s not too tacky?"

"Well you could add carnations and matsumoto asters to it,"

LaFontaine knew roses and carnations. “Yeah, let’s do that,” they trusted Lola to know what she was doing with masterauto… whatevers.

Lola’s heart was heavy in her chest as she made the bouquet, aware that they probably had someone else they liked. She chose roses that were a dark pink, baby pink carnations, and red matsumoto asters. Although to LaFontaine they were all red, they still looked beautiful.

"How much?" LaFontaine asked, watching Perry go behind the register.

"$10" She wrapped the flowers in some plastic, tying a ribbon around the stems to keep them in place.

"10? For that many flowers?"

"Well, you get a discount," Lola smiled a little, even though she knew she shouldn’t. Those flowers were for someone "special".

"Oh, thanks," they smiled and gave her the money.

"If you don’t mind me asking…" Lola started when she opened the register to put the money in. "Who are they for?" She knew the answer was probably going to hurt but she had to know.

When she looked up, she was a little surprised. The bouquet was pointing towards her. Behind it stood a very sheepish LaFontaine.

"You,"

Lola blinked.

"They’re for you,"

"Wh-why…?" Lola said lowly.

"I had fun last night and I was wondering… If you’d go out with me on Friday? Without Laura or anyone. Just us,"

—

“Soooo,” Laura said with a huge grin, bursting into their shop and sliding on the counter to them.

“So what?”

“You and  _Lola_ ,” she giggled like a little school girl, squirming with excitement.

“What about me and Lola?” LaFontaine looked away, pretending to wipe up the counter to hide the goofy grin on their face, remembering the previous night.

“You drove her home after our double date last night,”

“Yeah?”

“Sooooo?”

“What, L? What else? I just… drove her home,” LaFontaine shrugged.

Laura squirmed excitedly again. “And gave her a hickey,”

“I  _what?_ ” LaFontaine was wide eyed, trying to think back to when they saw Lola not even three hours ago. “I swear I didn’t even kiss that hard!”

“Aha! So something did happen!” Laura pointed a finger at LaFontaine, her back straightening.

LaFontaine groaned. “Okay, something happened,”

“Details,”

“Well… After dinner I drove her home and because you two were so  _invasive_ …” The paused, glaring at Laura for a second. “We decided that spending some time to ourselves wouldn’t be a bad idea,”

“So you went into her house?”

“Yes,”

“And then what?” Laura was too excited about this.

“We watched a movie,”

“And then?” She started bouncing a little from excitement.

“Okay, L, I’m gonna need you to calm down,”

Laura took a deep breath, although unable to shake her smile. “Okay,”

“And then… I… Kissed her…” LaFontaine looked away, feeling their cheeks heat up.

“Eeeee!” Laura squealed, kicking her feet happily but suddenly stopped, her expression going serious and she leaned forward a bit. “Wait, you were afraid you gave her a hickey…” The excited smile crept back across her face. “Did you two-”

“No! I swear, I wouldn’t do that on a first date,”

Laura squealed again. “First date,”

LaFontaine chuckled, rubbing the back of their head. “I swear, L. What am I gonna do with you?”

“Love me! I set you two up and it’s working out!” She jumped down from the counter and pulled them into a hug. “Are you gonna see her again?”

“We have plans for Friday,”

Laura jumped and squealed again. LaFontaine didn’t even stop her this time or stop the sheepish grin that they had been fighting.

—

“Hey Perry,” LaFontaine greeted as they came out from the back, hearing the ding at the door.

“Perry?”

“Yeah. I think it suits you better than Lola,” LaFontaine smiled and her heart skipped a beat again.

“Perry it is then,” she smiled like a love sick puppy.

“What can I do for you?”

“Um… I wanted… a…” Perry gestured around the designs at the counter.

“A tattoo?” LaFontaine gaped. “You want a tattoo?”

“Yeah… well… I was thinking… You have so many…” She took a second to scan their body. LaFontaine was wearing a tanktop, allowing Perry to see more of their tattoos than normal. “I thought.. I might want one…”

“Okay… Well, what were you thinking?”

“Um… I wanted a flower… well, lilacs,”

“Lilacs?”

“Yeah. I can bring you over some if you want a reference,” she pointed behind her.

“Oh, no. That’s fine. Lilacs are my favorite. I don’t think I need a reference,”

 _‘I know’_  she thought.

—

“Hey, be nice to that paper. What has it ever done to you?” Danny asked, watching LaFontaine harshly erase everything that was on the paper once again.

“I can’t get this fucking flower right!”

“I could draw it for you. Flowers are my specialty,” Carmilla offered.

“No. I want to do it,”

“Why? What’s got you wanting to draw flowers all of a sudden?”

“… No reason…” they erased the thing again, successfully tearing the paper this time. With an exasperated sigh, the crumpled it and got a new one.

“It’s for Perry isn’t it?” Carmilla grinned.

“That’s ridiculous. I don’t think Perry would ever want a tattoo…” Danny said, looking to LaFontaine then losing her confidence.

“Oh my god, it is Perry,” Carmilla patted the table excitedly.

“So what? I just want it to look nice…”

“Then let me help you, Van Gogh. You’re gonna make us run out of paper,”

—

“How does…” They paused to peel away the paper. “That look?” LaFontaine said, after placing the design on Perry’s shoulder.

She turned to look at the image in the mirror behind her.

“Wow.. I love it…” It was of a single lilac bunch with a few pedals falling and resting on an imaginary surface just below. Poking out from either side were leaves, making the whole thing come together beautifully.

“Do you still want it colored?”

“Yes…”

“Okay, are you ready?” LaFontaine asked, holding the needle.

Perry bit her lip and nodded. In all honesty, She thought it was going to hurt worse than it did, even though there were times where she let out a whimper or two. LaFontaine actually found her little noises cute. They just smiled a little apologetically as they gently worked the needle into her.

When the needle pulled away from her skin and turned off, she let out a sigh of relief.

“Oh, we aren’t done yet,”

“What?” Perry’s eyes widened. The stinging was just getting to the point where she couldn’t handle it anymore.

“I just did the outline,” they chuckled, wiping it off a bit more. Perry groaned a little. “Do you want to take a short break?”

“Yes, please,” Perry breathed, checking the progress. The bold lines surprised her a bit. That was her new skin. “Did your tattoos hurt?”

"A few did," they said, scanning their arms. "The one on my neck and my elbows were the worst, but most didn’t. I’m pretty good with pain,”

“Which one is your oldest?” Perry turned her attention to LaFontaine’s arms.

“Oh, that’s the one on my shoulder,” They turned around and uncovered part of their shoulder, moving their tank top. A little green mushroom that Perry recognized from Super Mario came into view. There was writing underneath it that read “Get a life”. She laughed a little. “Nerdy, right? I got it my freshman year of high school back when I hated everything,” LaFontaine smiled.

“Hey… is that a new one?” She pointed to a tattoo that looked like it was much more puffed up and vibrant than the others surrounding it.

“Uh… yeah. I got that a few days ago…”

“A lily?”

“It’s your favorite, right?”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm always open for requests/prompts over on my [tumblr](http://the--harbor.tumblr.com)!


End file.
